March 30, 2014 — Audio and story by Race Chaser Online New York correspondent Steven Ovens — photo courtesy Motorsports Image — RANSOMVILLE, NY — Erick Rudolph had a stellar year in 2013 on the dirt.
He picked up a huge win at the track in his hometown, the Ransomville Speedway, in one of their most prestigious events of the season at the 29th running of the ‘Alex Friesen Summer Nationals’. He didn’t just cruise away to victory either, he passed the legendary Danny Johnson to grab the extremely popular hometown win.
The 22-year-old backed this up by picking up the DIRTcar 358-Modified Series championship at season’s end at the Brockville Ontario Speedway in Cananda. Rudolph won the championship in style- by taking the win in the last series event at BOS. This was his first 358-Modified Series win and his first championship in the series.
Those wins and championship has now provided the Western New York pilot to purchase a Big Block Modified engine package to make his debut in the top Modified division in DIRTcar. Erick will attempt approximately half of the Super DIRTcar Series events that are travel-friendly for his team. He will also compete in about ¾ of the events at ‘The Land of Legends’ the Canandaigua Motorsports Park.
This doesn’t include any of the Asphalt Modified races he may compete in with either the NASCAR asphalt mods or the Race of Champions Modified Pavement Series.
Rudolph already started off 2014 strong with a win and several strong runs in the TQ Midget indoor races in Indiana and Trenton, NJ.
Listen in as Rudolph told us about those races, his 2013 championship run and his plans for 2014 with Race Chaser Online correspondent and Turn 5 Racing Podcast Host Steven Ovens: